SOCIAL MEDIA 1

Social media's impact on body image and self esteem

Riley McKinney

Lebanon High School

Abstract

The project involves social media affecting people's body image and self esteem. The goal is to

show some of the measures people have taken to fit in are very extreme and can cause damage

to the rest of your life. This has been done by examining events such as some campaigns

and other social events and by essays within schools or a random amount of people. Social

media has caused eating disorders, surgery, campaigns to help one another, and just brings

people together to show they are not alone. This research highlights the importance of what

social media can do to you in a positive and negative affect. Shows why the media is good and

bad for you for how you look and making you confident or not in your self esteem.

Introduction

Social medias origin does not have an exact impact on society, 1,479 people were given a

survey to rate what they think about social media through body image and anxiety and young

women in particular would edit their images that mask people's flaws and imperfections.
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(McDaniels,2017) Even after all the research people do and surveys of people and what are their

thought is of social media has not been determined a good or a bad thing.

The media is where you use all these filters and express your day to day life and are able

to chat with your friends. Social media has caused certain problems such as eating disorders or

plastic surgery. The media campaigns supporting young and older individuals through these

problems and try to make them love their self. Social media brings people together to prevent

sucide but can also make you lose self confidence but there is not a direct answer to the media.

(McDaniels,2017) Overall the media has over millions of people with accounts which shows you

how big of an impact the media has on society.

In someway the media has such a great impact facebook is the biggest. The media has a

way in helping you to become you but also not be you but it is more of your own decision. With

having phones it causes these things to control how we see ourselves and the friends and family

around us can declare that too, in a negative or a positive impact.(Astrup, 2018) Also, social

media just has a big society and variety of people which is crazy how big it is and how it is some

people's number one priority in life.

Social media is a supportive online community for people to be who they are and is a

community that can tear you apart. Social media can give you the opportunity to be more

confident and show your true self as long as you let it or the negative can happen from the words

you see or the pictures.

Discussion

Social media has a way to corrupt your mind on how you see yourself and the way you

act. The way you project yourself comes from social media. The way the words are on post and

what picture is what determines how you see you. Friends you hang around can determine how
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you see yourself too, the pierse you are around can help you or destroy your confidence. In a way

are body image may be perfect to some but you see your body as if it is a disgrace to the world.

Such as eating disorders have developed from the media because they are trying to cop

from emotional pain with what they see and hear from the media. Many young people feel

pressure to lose weight and be thin and some engage in unhealthy eating habits and sometimes

people do not know that.(Targeted News Service,2019) Eating disorders affect more middle

school kids and up and causes people to be to thin and end up being really unhealthy. These diet

plans people see on the media or workouts to lose so much weight and be muscular some of

these things are unreasonable. People end up getting hurt in the end because even though the

saying nothing is impossible sometimes those big goals need to be reached in another way, not

by lifting every day and eating too little.

For example, a few years ago people about 45 would want a facelift or Botox but now

people below 30 want it and even 20 year olds. The media has caused an uprise in plastic surgery

with more than 1,800,000 surgical procedures.(Hamrah,2019) When getting surgery done the

surgeon will look at their picture before and what they want done and there is nothing wrong it is

because of the angles they are taking a picture at. (Hamrah, 2019) Every year more and more

patience want something done and it is not 40 and up, it is just getting lower which 20 year olds

do not need major surgery like that. Plastic surgery is more influential on social media than any

other media(Hamrah,2019)

Furthermore, multiple people edit their photos, 70% of women and 50% of men edit

their photos even worse the age group is 18-35 which is a young age to care what your body

looks like.(Ratcliffe,2017) When you are that age you should wear and do and eat what you love

not go on a diet or buy things you will never wear because of the media. Social media has put
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some people in a hole and they can not get out of which causes people to keep digging at their

selfs. Social media makes you have a poor image of yourself which shouldn’t be the case but

sadly it is. Facebook is the biggest social media app with Facebook having 1 billion accounts,

which shows you why some of the diet and lifting plans can be so unreasonable.

Also social media can have a positive affect it can be a resource for teens to find social

support when they are struggling with life issues, and that they can use the different online

platforms as a way to express themselves and find others going through the same thing to talk to.

(McDaniels,2017) The media has saved lives from people who are going through depression or

just a rough life. In the media world it shows how you are not alone and there is always someone

to talk to and there is always something that you can watch or see on a post that can lighten up

your day and understand things are going to happen in life you just have to get through it.

In the real world there are friends and family to support you but also there is campaigns

online to tell you that you are beautiful and are perfect. Be Real which is a national campaign

that helps with body image and supporting the women out there that don’t see they are perfect

this is through social media and a get together to show you are not alone.(Ratcliffe, 2017) There

are many more of these to show how perfect you really are and if it were not for media it would

be hard to spread this and help the people around you that are struggling with appearance. The

friendships people make on the media helps people to see they are worth it and are meant to be

here.

Such as, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and even more media apps make us happy to be

able to connect with others and see how your friends and family are doing. Having that type of

communication helps you feel safe knowing your friends and family are and we just enjoy the

little things such as sending silly pictures of ourselves and posting cool pictures of where we
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have been which makes us feel more body positive. We always have someone as for at home you

may not the media gives you a home somewhere you can be you. Some 78% of 18- to 24-year-

olds use Snapchat,71% of Americans in this age group now use Instagram and close to half

(45%) are Twitter users.(Smith/Anderson, 2018)Tells you how popular social media is and

shows you there are other people just like you.

Social media has its ups and downs, there are times where it is a bad role model for

others and causes eating disorder or a discomfort on how you look. Also the media has a good

side too, through campaigns to support on how you look and the friends online help you feel

more confident. It depends on the way you look at it that is how you decide if media is bad or

good.

Conclusion

Social media causes way more destruction on ourselves then we know. Social media has

a huge impact on how we look and what we should do to fit it. Some of the measures people

have taken to fit in are very extreme and can cause damage to you the rest of your life.

For instance social media has a high risk of hurting yourself physically but much more

mentally.The images of perfect models or images of people’s perfect life can damage how you

see yourself and your life. When people post the best part of their life constantly people compare

their life to someone else can sometimes lead to diminished self-worth.( Brain/Spine,2016)

When your friends post a picture all together and you weren’t able to go that can give you

anxiety not knowing what they are doing and talking about.

Therefore the media has caused eating disorders and has caused people to do certains

diets that they should not do and can cause people to get really sick. Some of the diets are

unreasonable and should not even be on the media because it is giving people false hope. People
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have gone as far in doing this extreme portion control, over exercising, skipping meals and

weighing daily to make sure they can be as thin as possible. (Richards,2019) This is such a big

thing people don’t see and people need to start taking action in.

As for some people may believe it is a motivational supporter seeing these young people

get up and workout or go on diets. But the selfies people take or other pictures without filters and

you think they look amazing in reality they are considering eating disorder or debating surgery.

(Brucculieri,2019) Because they do not believe in their self and want to change their self to even

look better even if other people wish they looked like that person. The campaigns on social

media is a way for people to get together who may have similar situations but these campaigns

might be leading others to the wrong thing those people may support you but they will not

always be there.

Overall social media effects on how you see yourself and damages you then helping you

to feel better about yourself. Social media has caused less confidence to people and causing

people to make poor decisions such as getting plastic surgery and starting on a diet plan that is

way to far out of reach. In the end social media does affect how you see yourself and your self

esteem.

Work Cited

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Brucculieri, J. (2019, May 16). Plastic Surgeons Reveal The Ways Social Media Influences

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